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Defenders and Coalition File Suit to Force Atlantic Salmon Listing

(01/27/1999) - A coalition of ten conservation groups and individuals led by
Defenders of Wildlife today filed suit in U.S. District Court against the
Departments of Interior and Commerce for their failure to list a distinct
population segment of Atlantic salmon as endangered or threatened under the
Endangered Species Act (ESA).

"The fact that less than 40 Atlantic salmon returned to
these seven rivers last year unequivocally establishes that these fish are on
the brink of extinction," said Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger
Schlickeisen. "The continued failure to extend the protections of the Endangered
Species Act to these critically imperiled fish is legally and morally
indefensible."

In light of the extremely imperiled status of this population,
the parties have asked Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and Commerce Secretary
William Daley to immediately publish an emergency listing for the salmon.
Atlantic salmon numbers have dropped dramatically during the past decade. The
U.S. Atlantic salmon run has historically been estimated at 500,000. Today,
however, indigenous populations of Atlantic salmon occur only in a limited
number of rivers in Maine. Last year, only 38 Atlantic salmon returned to the
seven rivers comprising the distinct population segment. Recent data confirm
that returns of wild salmon to each of the seven rivers have declined by as much
as 90 percent in the past two years alone.

In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposed listing Atlantic salmon in
seven Maine rivers. In December 1997, and at the request of Maine Governor Angus
King, the agencies reversed course and agreed to accept a voluntary state
conservation plan in lieu of federal listing.

"We believe politics and not science was the overriding
factor in the services' decision to withdraw their listing proposal," said
Michael Senatore, wildlife counsel for Defenders of Wildlife. "Maine's voluntary
and prospective conservation agreement is simply not an adequate substitute for
the enforceable standards of the Endangered Species Act."

Defenders says that the case of the Atlantic salmon is similar
to other recent decisions in which FWS and NMFS have relied upon voluntary and
future conservation efforts to avoid politically controversial listings for
species in need of federal protection. Conservation groups have successfully
challenged several of these decisions for violating the ESA. In a recent case
similar to that of the Atlantic salmon, the court ruled that substituting a
voluntary Oregon state conservation plan in place of listing coho salmon under
the ESA was illegal. Governor John Kitzhaber of Oregon and NMFS officials
recently announced that they were dropping their appeals of the coho salmon
decision.

"We urge both agencies and Maine to follow Governor
Kitzhaber's lead with respect to Atlantic salmon," Schlickeisen said. "It is our
hope to avoid protracted litigation and to reach a resolution recognizing the
vital but distinct roles of Maine and the Endangered Species Act in the survival
and eventual recovery of Atlantic salmon."

Defenders is joined in the suit by the Biodiversity Legal
Foundation, Coastal Waters Project, Conservation Action Project, Forest Ecology
Network, David Carle, Charles Fitzgerald, Douglas Watts, Don Shields, and Arthur
Taylor. The parties are being represented by the Washington, D.C.-based law firm
Meyer and Glitzenstein.

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Contact(s):

Cat Lazaroff, (202) 772-3270

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